


The colors of winter

by dandelionnie



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Adventure, Angst but not too much, M/M, MAMA AU, Mad Scientists, Minor Character Death, Past Torture, bad redacted action, mentions of human experimentation, partially based in the lucky one mv, side Kaisoo - Freeform, yifan cameo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:27:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22027819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dandelionnie/pseuds/dandelionnie
Summary: Three years ago the world was plunged into a never-ending Winter. Jongdae is part of the expedition to find out what happened and after years of work, they have finally traced it back to one man. Their mission now is simple: find that person and arrest him. Or at least it was that way at the beginning.
Relationships: Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Minseok | Xiumin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22
Collections: Round 3: Autumn and Winter - On the Snow





	The colors of winter

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt Flake: #71: Mama!AU three years ago the world was plunged into a never-ending Winter. Jongdae’s part of the expedition to find out what happened and after years of work has traced it back to one man. 
> 
> Author's note: When I saw this prompt I fell in love immediately, sadly I couldn't write how I wanted due to the lack of time. Anyway, I hope you can enjoy the fic :)  
> For the prompter: sorry if this wasn't what you expected, but I hope you like it nonetheless.

JongDae’s eyes were focused on the way the snowflakes hit the window of the car and slid down the crystal until it’s made a little and thin layer of snow in the rubber part of the door. Seeing the white scenery outside the car was nothing new for him. The world had been plunged into a never-ending winter for three years now and JongDae couldn’t even remember how it felt to be under the sun or to take a bath on the beach because the weather was hot.

The chained wheels of the vehicle stopped at the front gates of a massive building, and that’s when JongDae knew his trip had ended and that he had to get out of the car. The snow under his boots crashed with a strange sound but he was already used to it. With lazy steps, JongDae started walking to the metallic double doors, his co-workers were behind him waiting for him to open up the door with the eye-scanner.

“Come on, Dae,” BaekHyun complained. “I’m freezing!”

Rolling his eyes, the man got near the scan and waited until the light turned green and the front gates started opening. They entered with quick steps, taking their coats off, doing the same with their gloves and hats; they thanked silently when the doors closed behind them and the radiator started working. They were excited to be there for the first time in months so all his group was fast to start running to their working-zone.

ChanYeol was the one in charge of lighting up the wood for the fireplace (after all his power was _fire_ ) while BaekHyun used his light powers to make the electric devices started working –just because their generator had died and a little energy from Byun’s hands was enough to turn on all the machines. Meanwhile, SeHun and JunMyeon had been preparing more supplies for their journey.

“Everything is ready,” KyungSoo said, he was the strongest of them (thanks to his powers) and probably the smartest too. “We have to be fast, I don’t want the bosses to know that we have a suspect. Not until we confirm everything.”

SeHun snorted and looked at KyungSoo with a raised eyebrow. “Are you still defending your conspiracy theory?”

“It is not a conspiracy theory, is a fact that they want to take the culprit of this winter and kill him,” JongDae replied, KyungSoo nodded. “You know how the government has worked since Wu’s case.”

“Yeah, well, but Wu’s case was special because he was a replicator. I don’t believe the one that turned the world into a fridge is a replicator.”

“Can we leave this conversation for later? If we want to part today we will have to be quick,” ChanYeol interrupted. “Search his exact location, I will be outside with Baek preparing the van to leave.”

“Okay.”

When ChanYeol and BaekHyun walked out of the room, the global map started searching with the coordinates KyungSoo had given the program. The platform started searching for the place at the speed of light, zooming in the map until it showed a satellite photo of what seemed to be an old mansion in the middle of nowhere.

“Where is that?” JongDae asked.

KyungSoo frowned before searching for the name of the place. He seemed surprised as he read the location and made a quick photo of the map before deleting all pieces of evidence of their research and turning off the machines. He looked at the boys that were in the room before shaking his head and moving to the door.

“In the car,” he said as he exited the room.

The others were quick to follow him, walking out of the building once their winter clothes were on them again and running to the car where ChanYeol and BaekHyun waited. Once they were settled inside the van, ChanYeol started the vehicle and ride until they were out of the building zone. When they were almost four kilometers away, KyungSoo showed them the picture he had taken of the map and started talking.

“It’s near,” he said. “This is the abandoned city of Guri.”

“Guri?” SeHun repeated, amused. “He has been in Korea all this time?”

“Well, we can’t be sure about that,” KyungSoo answered. “Probably he had been moving to avoid federals and other people trying to found him, but he has been in Guri for at least four months.”

“And what’s his name again?” JongDae questioned.

KyungSoo looked at the man before replying: “Kim MinSeok.”

* * *

With blue hooded eyes, MinSeok watched the icicles that had formed in the ceiling in the last few hours. He had been wondering about how much time it would take for them to fell off and kill him before he shook his head in a sad gesture. His creations couldn’t kill him. Ice couldn’t kill him.

He walked through the empty hallways of the house that once had been his. Guri had been completely abandoned even before he got there and the view of his homeland turned into a white and solitary scenery. It hurt him to see how empty and broken everything was, but he knew that there was nothing he could do to turn back time.

MinSeok entered his old bedroom and looked at himself in the mirror, the big and used winter clothes looked bigger in him after some days eating a small amount of food. The cold weather didn’t affect him, but he felt the need to put on some heavy clothes nonetheless. Especially when they were things he wanted to cover up.

He closed his eyes and lied on the bed, curling into a ball and trying to leave his mind blank. He was tired and running out of food. He knew he was being chased since he left Kyoto months ago, and that it will be stupid to try to run away. However was searching for him, they will find him in a matter of time.

Not even two hours later, when the man was still swimming between sleep and reality, he heard the scratching sound of chained wheels in the iced entry of the house. He was up in no time, looking through the half-shouted curtains to the people who had arrived. He saw a black van parked near his house and how a group of men walked out of the vehicle completely dressed in winter coats.

MinSeok gulped when he saw that three of them seemed to carry guns with them. Shivering by the sight of the weapons, the man ran out of the room and walked up the stairs to the attic. He curled up in a corner and closed his eyes, waiting patiently for them to drive away or to find him and ending everything already.

* * *

JongDae stirred up as he stepped out of the car. The ride to Guri had been even longer than expected due to the snow that had covered the highways. The cleaning services had done their best, but the winter seemed to worsen at each minute that passed and there was nothing left to do. JongDae was enthusiastic with the discoveries they made, even if they had to keep it private because of KyungSoo’s theory, it was the first time in months that they had the certainty of something.

“Well,” ChanYeol said as he exited the van. “Where do we start searching for Lee MinSoon?” he asked.

BaekHyun rolled his eyes as he stepped next to JongDae and KyungSoo. “It’s Kim MinSeok, ChanYeol.”

“Whatever,” he dismissed.

KyungSoo was the first one to start walking, ignoring his team-mates and entering the garden of the house near the van. If the information he had found was not wrong (and it was likely not), Kim’s property was the one he had entered in.

“Here,” he said as he saw the others following him. “This was the house of Kim MinHoon and Lee JiSung, the parents of our alleged culprit.”

“Oh, he returned home…” SeHun said. “Isn’t that sweet?”

JongDae looked at the younger man and frowned. “I don’t know if you are joking or moved by this.”

“I will let you figure it out yourself,” the man replied.

ChanYeol took the handle of the door and closed his eyes. The ice that covered it melted in a matter of seconds and KyungSoo pushed it until it was completely open. They entered the house, feeling a shiver running down their spines for the incredibly cold weather inside the place. It was way colder than outside.

“Fuck,” JunMyeon mumbled. “He has to be here, it’s the only logical reason for this to be a fucking freezer.”

“Even I can feel the cold weather,” ChanYeol said.

The others looked at him with bitter expressions. Sometimes they forgot that ChanYeol’s power kept the man warm most of the time, so the winter didn’t affect him. Maybe it was because he dressed in the same clothes as them and that he was a whiny man about being cold most of the time just to piss them off.

“Poor ChanYeol, do you want a hot chocolate?” KyungSoo asked with such a sharp look and tone that he made the others laugh.

“Sorry.”

JunMyeon ignored the stupid fight that was taking place behind him and connected the stolen locator. In the ride to Guri, KyungSoo had been fixing the machine so the government couldn’t track them once he started the device, they were safe for now.

“What does the red light means?” JongDae asked as he stared at KyungSoo and the machine on his hands.

“That he is actually pretty near. It is the maximum level of the power source. I configured it to ignore our powers and search for others, so this doesn’t indicate our strength but his.”

“Should we split into groups?” BaekHyun asked as he walked near them, cutting off the bickering he had started with ChanYeol.

“Okay,” KyungSoo said. “JunMyeon, ChanYeol and you will search around here. JongDae, SeHun and I will go upstairs.”

They started moving, carefully stepping on the staircases and analyzing the zone in search of any tramps or weapons that their objective could have set up. Surprising for them, there was nothing. Not guns, not traps, nothing. Just clear hallways with a lot of snow and icicles looking extremely sharp but still in the ceiling.

“The signal is getting stronger,” KyungSoo said. “He has to be around here, I will go to the rooms by the end of this hallway. SeHun search in the other and JongDae…”

“I will go to the attic.” The three men lifted his eyes to the closed door in the ceiling, the rope to pull the stairs down was completely freezing.

“Okay.”

They split again, moving carefully around the rooms and their weapons firmly secured in their hands. JongDae lifted his hand and get to pull the rope down before it broke into pieces on his hand. He climbed the stairs slowly, changing his big machine gun for one of his handguns. The ceiling of the attic was low, so he had to crouch to move around the room, he has his night vision glasses on as he looked around the room.

JongDae couldn’t see anything out of the normal, just boxes and old furniture covered with sheets. His radar couldn’t found human presence either, so he turned around to go when his eyes fell on it. The man curled up in the left corner of the attic. He seemed scared, shivering more and more as JongDae moved closer to him. He sent the warning to his teammates and soon he heard their steps downstairs.

Lifting an arm, JongDae touched the man curled up on the corner and back off a little when the man tried to move away, even if it was impossible. He looked behind and saw KyungSoo and SeHun entering the attic and moving until they were side by side with him. With calculated moves, KyungSoo lifted the manipulated weapon to get the other to sleep and shoot.

Then everything happened too fast. The man moved and dodged the bullet with the tranquilizer. He slammed his hands into the floor and made the wood under their feet froze and break, making SeHun and KyungSoo fell into the second floor as JongDae managed to move to a secure zone in the attic. The man looked at him then and his eyes turned dark blue, ready to attack. But he couldn’t get to do it as KyungSoo shoot him again from downstairs, aiming perfectly for his neck.

JongDae caught the man before he hit the floor, unconscious. SeHun and KyungSoo got up the attic again and prepared the things to immobilize him, it was a matter of minutes for them to have the man wrapped tightly with ropes and special handcuffs around his hands to inhibit his powers. There put a special necklace around him as well.

“Okay, let’s move.”

ChanYeol was the one in charge of carrying the subject’s body, lifting him until he was hanging from one of his shoulders as the man walked to the van. The cold weather had calmed down and snow started melting around them, but just a bit.

“And where do we go now?” JunMyeon asked once they were settled in the car. “The base?”

“No,” KyungSoo said. Everyone’s eyes fell on him.

“No?” ChanYeol questioned. “Why not?”

“One of the micro-cameras I was testing a few months ago captured this,” he said. “The camera couldn’t be detected by any program, so that’s how I get to record things without the government knowing it.”

KyungSoo moved and took out a tablet from his backpack, turning it on and searching for something in the files before showing it to his teammates. A hologram of a video started playing, showing President Shim ChangMin and Park JungSoo, the chief of their investigation program, talking in an office.

_“Almost two years, JungSoo,” the president said. “Your team had been investigating this for almost two years and haven’t caught the man yet. What’s the point of keeping them if they are not useful?”_

_“I know, I know, but I’m certain they will.” The other man sighed as he sat down on one of the chairs. The president looked completely angry as he stared at JungSoo. “They are smart people with strong powers. They are just discarding any possibility so they follow the right tracks. I know they are close to getting him.”_

_The President frowned and looked at JungSoo with contemplative eyes. It was obvious that ChangMin still had his doubts about their work and JungSoo’s words were not enough convincing for the president._

_“Do you think they can do it? Be honest with me, JungSoo, or you’ll be the one paying their mistakes.”_

_“Trust me, ChangMin,” JungSoo replied. “They will find the culprit of this and bring it to us.”_

_“And then?” the president questioned._

_“And then…”_

_The chief of the investigation threw a file filled with photos of every one of them, ordering them over the desk as the President’s eyes analyzed the images one by one. He smiled too when he saw the red cross that marked every face and the post-it with information about each member._

_“Then we would have the one to blame for this thing, and my team will disappear,” JungSoo finally completed his sentence._

_“Have you already decided where you will send them?” the President asked._

_JungSoo laughed and nodded. “Well, their powers are powerful and interesting. They would fit perfectly in our cloning program.”_

_“And then? What would you do once we have of them what we want?” the President asked. But the look on his eyes showed that he already knew the answer._

_“They won’t be useful anymore,” JungSoo stated and shrugged. “Their deaths will be quick, that’s all I can promise.”_

_The president kept silence for a while before nodding and turning around to walk out of the office._

_“Perfect.”_

The video stopped playing and the tablet got turned off by KyungSoo. He sent a wary look to his teammates, who seemed to be assimilating the new information. JunMyeon was the first one to speak up, his voice trembling a little bit as the words came out.

“They are planning to kill us,” he said. “If we take MinSeok there, they would catch us, torture us and then kill us.”

“This had been their plan since we entered the program,” KyungSoo explained. “When I saw this I got scared and that’s why I started investigating how the government was controlling us. This is the reason why I started with _my conspiracies theories,_ as you called them.”

“And what are we supposed to do now?” BaekHyun questioned. He looked stressed and on the verge of having a panic attack. “Why did you keep this from us? Why did you keep as searching this man if he’s our death sentence?”

SeHun, who had been quiet and still assuming the new information frowned and shook his head. “He’s not our death sentence, the government is. This man is not the one trying to kill us behind our backs.”

“Yeah, well, but his existence is what cause of all this,” BaekHyun replied. “I don’t want to be cruel, but if we keep him with us the government will have a real reason to kill us all.”

“That’s right. But he would be our weapon against the government as well,” KyungSoo said and threw a quick look to the unconscious MinSeok. “You said it yourself, he caused all of this and his the only solution to it.”

“His life for ours, that’s what you are saying?” JongDae questioned in a low tone.

The man nodded. JongDae looked at the unconscious man, now sitting carelessly next to ChanYeol. He had seemed terribly afraid when he discovered him in the attic like he was hiding from then and it had been clear to him that MinSeok’s reaction to KyungSoo’s attack was produced because he was scared, not because he wanted to hurt them. He was protecting himself.

“I know is cruel,” KyungSoo said, voicing his thoughts out loud. “But is the only solution I’ve found. For now, this is the only plan I have.”

JongDae nodded absently. All of them remained silent before JunMyeon talked again, looking directly at KyungSoo.

“Okay, let’s do what you say,” he accepted. The others hummed in agreement. “The base is not safe anymore, neither are the places we usually go. So, where do we go now?”

“I know a place. We’ll be safe there,” KyungSoo replied and after a few seconds, he started the car.

* * *

The ride in the car was long, almost five hours inside the van until they arrive at KyungSoo’s safe place. It was a house hidden in a forest zone, the path to access it almost impossible to make with a car even for KyungSoo who had managed to do it. They were sure that if the government found out the place it would still be a tough task to get them there.

“What’s this place?” SeHun asked as all of them got out of the van.

“My house.”

KyungSoo’s reply let everyone speechless, they didn’t know that their friend had a house in that place. Or at the house at all, if they were going, to be honest. All of them spent most of their time in the base and normal life was not something they could do with how the world had to be in the last few years.

“You have a house?” BaekHyun questions.

“You are in front of it, BaekHyun,” KyungSoo replied. “Of course I have one.”

“When did you get it? We haven’t had time to buy houses since this eternal winter started.” Everyone nodded at JunMyeon’s words.

KyungSoo sighed and moved to the door, searching for the key in the doorframe while answering.

“It has always been mine. A heritage.”

“Well, that makes sense,” ChanYeol accepted. “But why didn’t you tell us.”

“It’s better to have some secrets,” he said. “Especially when the government listens to all your conversations.”

It was simple but a reasonable explanation. KyungSoo had always been a smart and cautious man, so the fact that he had been able to hide from everyone the existence of this house made complete sense. After all, it had been a smart decision, especially now that they had apparently betrayed their government and had run away with the culprit of their never-ending winter.

The door opened before KyungSoo could insert the key in it, making everyone moved and take out their guns, included ChanYeol who still have MinSeok thrown over one of his shoulders. Five weapons were pointed at the boy who had opened the door, but he didn’t seem to mind when his eyes fell on KyungSoo, who looked unexpectedly guilty.

“You could have a call.” It was the first thing the strange man said as he frowned. “You could have sent a message, or a signal, even a fucking pigeon with a note attached to those nasty legs of theirs would have been better than you entering this fucking place without a warning and with five…” He looked at MinSeok still knocked out over ChanYeol’s shoulders. “Five strangers and a dead man with you.”

“I am sorry,” KyungSoo uttered and he looked apologetic.

“Sorry? That’s all you can say? That you are sorry?” the man growled and stumped his feet on the floor in an angry gesture. “I’ve been waiting for months here for you to come back. I’ve been waiting to have a miserable text message that would assure me that you were still alive. Didn’t you think for a moment how worried I could be?”

“JongIn…” he started. “I am sorry. I really am, but this is not the best time to discuss this.”

“I don’t fucking care about timing, KyungSoo. I want answers of why the fuck you left me here alone and without a way to know if you were alive,” he snapped. “Asshole.”

KyungSoo’s teammates were completely shocked as they looked at the scene developing in front of them. They had never heard the man apologize for anything, or looking that guilty over something. But they haven’t seen him been affectionate with other people and here he was, walking forward and kissing the man in a way that made him shut up. All of them moved his eyes out of the scene when the kiss seemed to turn deeper and the wet sounds made them uncomfortable.

“Are you going to enter or stand still there with your stupid weapons?” the stranger, JongIn, asked after a few minutes, bringing their attention back to him.

None of them moved and the man let out a growl before suddenly disappearing. In a blink of an eye, they didn’t have their weapons anymore, and to their surprise, they saw how all of them had been collected by JongIn, who was now walking with his arms full of guns into the house. All eyes fell on KyungSoo once again.

“What the fuck?” JunMyeon said and KyungSoo looked at him with an uncomfortable smile.

“I will explain it to you later, but now enter before he gets angrier.”

They obeyed and entered the house. It was warm inside, the place was clean and cozy, much different from the white and grey colors of the government base they had been living on. The stranger was walking around, the weapons getting thrown in a corner of the house as the man mumbled something to himself.

“Don’t mind him, I will deal with his angriness later,” KyungSoo said as he guided to the living room. “He’s just being dramatic…”

“I heard you, Do KyungSoo!”

They settled in the sofas placed in the living room near a lighted fireplace. ChanYeol let MinSeok’s body in the middle of the room, making sure that the cuffs were still secured and operating around his wrists and that the knots of the ropes were tighter as they could be. The man could be unconscious for hours, but his power was still uncontrolled.

ChanYeol put on him a special collar that would control his power as well, indicating in a small screen how his power was fluctuating. Suddenly, when ChanYeol was going to stand up, the weather inside the place turned colder and the graphic inside the screen went mad, the strength of MinSeok’s power trying to surpass the inhibitors.

“He is too strong,” JunMyeon said. “I don’t think the handcuffs and the collar would control him much longer.”

All eyes fell on the unconscious man and the high peaks of red that fluctuated in the special handcuffs. His power was still trying to protect him even though the man was knocked out. It was quite amazing for them to see the ropes being slowly covered by ice, but not strong enough to break them.

“I know he’s too powerful, but that’s all we got for now,” KyungSoo replied.

The stranger appeared again, carrying a tray with a big bottle and mugs. He let it on the coffee table and served everyone a cup of hot chocolate. When he was leaving the room his eyes fell again in the unconscious man in his living room and frowned.

“Why did you fucking bring a dead person into my house?” he asked. The sharp look on his eyes made everyone freeze, uncomfortable.

“He is not dead, just unconscious,” SeHun replied with a low and careful tone.

“Oh, yes, that made it so much better,” JongIn answered sharply. “KyungSoo, babe, would you mind explain all of this to me before I kill your friends and then you?”

“Babe?” KyungSoo heard BaekHyun question under his breath.

“This is Kim MinSeok, the man that had caused this eternal winter.”

That seemed to leave JongIn speechless as he looked at the sleeping man on his rug. He then frowned and looked at KyungSoo, sending another death glare in his direction.

“And why have you bring him here?” he asked. “Do you want us to get killed or something?”

ChanYeol chuckled at that, causing the stranger to look at him and shout a _‘What?’_ in his direction as he frowned. ChanYeol moved uncomfortably to sit on the couch before looking at KyungSoo, but the man’s eyes were still fixed in JongIn.

“If we take the subject to the government we would get kill,” he said. “Keeping him with us is as dangerous as bringing him to the president.”

JongIn sighed and flop down on the couch next to KyungSoo. They all watched the way the man cuddled against their teammate and how one of KyungSoo’s hand circled JongIn’s waist. SeHun was about to question their relationship out loud when MinSeok started moving on the floor, waking up. It was surprising to see him up, most people would have been unconscious for a longer time.

The man opened his eyes and groaned, blinking slowly as he tried to adjust to the warm light that surrounded him. Then he moved and froze in place, he had noticed that there were handcuffs around his wrists and a heavy collar around his neck.

ChanYeol and BaekHyun were fast to move to the corner where the guns were and taking two of them, pointing them at the man. MinSeok groaned again and tried to sit down a few times before actually doing it. His blue eyes turned darker when he saw the guns pointed at him and even if his power was restrained, the weather turned colder and things started freezing around them.

“Calm down,” BaekHyun warned as he aimed for his head. “We are not going to hurt you.”

Contrary to what the team thought, the man replied to them.

“I am trying,” he said with a strained voice.

His eyes turned light blue again and the weather got better as a tired expression reflected in the subject’s face. JongDae looked at his teammates and made a sign to ChanYeol and BaekHyun, who put down their weapons. KyungSoo and he got up and moved closer to MinSeok. It was obvious that the man was still tense and cautious, trying to move away from then even if he couldn’t.

“Calm down,” BaekHyun repeated. “We are not your enemies.”

“Then why did you shot me with a sedative?” he mumbled.

“Because you attack us!” SeHun retorted.

“What do you expect me to do when you’re pointing me with your guns?” he asked. Once again his eyes turned dark blue and things around the team started freezing.

“Why don’t you untied this man and talk like adults?” JongIn said out of the blue. He was sending a wary look to KyungSoo. “Yelling and discussing won’t take you anywhere.”

JunMyeon got up and nodded when JongDae and KyungSoo looked at him. MinSeok caressed his neck the moment the leader took off the collar. It had been too tight for him so there was a purple mark brushing his skin. SeHun looked guilty.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t expect it to be that tight,” he mumbled. MinSeok looked at him for a moment, his eyes changing again to a lighter blue.

“It’s okay. I understand why you did it.”

All of them moved again, taking their places in the couches again and waiting for MinSeok to seat in the empty ottoman chair. They kept silence for a few seconds before the subject gulped and started talking.

“My name is Kim MinSeok,” he said. “But you probably knew that already.” He sighed again. “I was named as Case 99, partner of Wu YiFan in the program of clones,” he calmly explained. ”They held me captive and experimented with me since I was twenty-two and, if the year I saw the last time I found a calendar was not wrong, I am twenty-nine now. You do the maths.”

“Why the government took you?” SeHun asked. “The cloning program was done to enemies of the Government, not to citizens.”

“That’s what they told you?” he questioned, not even daring to look at JongDae and started to laugh when he caught everyone nodding. “That’s bullshit. The cloning program was done to anyone who had a power that the President and his scientists considered interesting. My power is not unique, other people have it, but I was stronger than others, had more control over myself than the others did. That’s why they took me.”

Everyone exchanged concerned looks. It was not difficult to imagine that kind of thing, especially after what they had discovered. The selfishness of people and the craving for power of those so-called politicians and scientists were two good reasons to also believe MinSeok’s words.

“Okay, let’s pretend we believe everything you are saying. Why would you cause this never-ending winter? What do you gain with this?” KyungSoo asked.

“I didn’t want this to happen,” he stated. “I was scared and alone. I didn’t know where I was so I panicked and it started snowing. It hasn’t stopped since then.”

“Are you trying to say that you did this because you were scared?” ChanYeol asked, incredulous.

“Yes.” ChanYeol and SeHun snorted as KyungSoo and BaekHyun shook his head in disbelief.

JunMyeon’s eyes were fixed in the man sitting in front of him. His white hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. He seemed skinnier than he should and his body pose screamed how scared and tense he felt even though it was obvious that MinSeok was far more powerful than them. For him, who had tried to understand people’s actions and minds since he was a kid, it was completely clear that the man was telling them the truth.

“You said that you were Wu YiFan’s partner, what does it mean?” JunMyeon questioned.

“Let’s start this with a simple question: what do you know about the clone program?” MinSeok inquired.

ChanYeol was the one who answered. “It’s a program to replicate the genes that gave us our powers.”

MinSeok started laughing hysterically, making them looked at the others with concerned eyes. They understand that doubting the government words was now possible, they had planned to kill them once they had finished their work and not commemorate them in front of the public as they had been told. If they had lied with that, they could have lied with everything they had heard of them in the last few years. But it was still difficult to just give up on everything they had to believe for years.

“The objective of the program is to turn our genes into copying machines,” he said. “That’s why YiFan was a replicator. They pair us because they needed people with strong powers to test the results of their investigations. If they experimented with me, they made me attack YiFan so they could see if I could replicate his powers. The same happened to him.”

“What kind of things did they do to you?” BaekHyun asked with a careful tone.

“I am not sure. I just remember the pain. And the white ceilings and walls. Everyone was covered with white clothes and masks so we couldn’t recognize them,” he explained. “The only person I could talk with was…”

MinSeok cut himself, his body trembling as tears gathered in his eyes. The pain that was reflected in his blue eyes made the others felt shivers run down their spines. What he had said was probably the truth that had been hidden behind the Clones Program and it made them sick. Torturing and experimenting on innocent people just because they wanted to make a replicator machine? It sounded crazy and cruel.

“Who was the person you could talk to?” JongIn asked.

MinSeok looked at him before gazing at the floor with hooded eyes. He took a deep breath and then answered, his voice was lower and with a sad tone that almost broke their hearts.

“Zhang YiXing,” he muttered. “He was my best friend, his power was healing so they took him and made him healed me every time I end up injured because of the experiments or my sessions with YiFan. The last time I saw he had been taken by the guards the day YiFan escaped.”

“And you? How did you get out?” KyungSoo questioned.

“I was with YiFan when he destroyed the building. They had successfully turned him into a replicator, but he had gone mad in the process and when he replicated my power he lost control.”

The team looked at each other with disbelief clouding their minds. It was hard to imagine what kind of things the government had made to turn YiFan into a replicator. It was hard to imagine how someone could survive to YiFan’s mess that day when he went mad. Everything was so complicated, and trying to assimilate so much information was a difficult task.

“But how could he destroy the building just with two powers?” It’s was SeHun who made the question this time.

“He didn’t have just two powers. Apparently, YiFan had realized that he could replicate others' power weeks before the incident, and he knew what power the nurses had, so he intentionally touched them to gather more and more powers. He just combined all of the power he had stolen and used them to get out of the building.”

“And you use that to save yourself,” ChanYeol stated.

“I was tired, and scared, and on the verge of dying. I just wanted to rest. One day, and then I would let them find me and kill me,” he answered. “I just wanted a minute with myself…”

His response made everyone shiver, there were so much pain and defeat in his words; MinSeok sounded so exhausted and broken… JunMyeon was the first to approach MinSeok, sitting down in front of him. The leader of the team took off the identification plate of his jacket and gave it to MinSeok: it was thin and silver, with his name and job position forged into it and a small identification number written down his leader label. He showed it to the man.

“My name is Kim JunMyeon,” he started saying. “I am twenty-eight years old, my power is water and I am the head of the Investigation Team in charge of finding you and jailing you.”

MinSeok took the plate and analyzed carefully, his eyes inspecting every part of it.

“Case 1,” MinSeok said. “However chose you to work in this, he had already decided which was your position in the program.”

JunMyeon’s teammates exchanged troubled expressions before KyungSoo decided to step forward as well and do the same as his leader. His plate was like JunMyeon’s, with _Information Expert_ written down his name and another number scribbled down it.

“My name is Do KyungSoo, I am twenty-six and my power is a little ambiguous, but I have to resume it to _earth_ , I am strong and can use things around me to protect myself thanks to an invisible force” he explained. “I am the head of the information and location part of our team. The person who made possible the program to track you down.”

“Case 12,” he said. “I think they know all of you before the team existed. This was just a way to get you together and monitor you before adding your name to their program.”

Once again they exchanged concerned looks. BaekHyun, ChanYeol, and SeHun got closer too, showing their plates and presenting themselves to MinSeok. Light, fire and wind meeting frost. JongDae was the last one of the team to get up and walk to MinSeok, crouching by his side and taking off his information plate.

“My name is Kim JongDae, I’m twenty-seven years old and my power is thunder.” MinSeok looked at him in the eyes. “My position in this team was to capture you and take you to the government.”

MinSeok frowned, he tensed up and looked at him with weary eyes. There was something in JongDae’s eyes that made him shiver. His eyes flickered between the light blue and another deep color, but not in a blue tone. For a moment MinSeok felt the need to lift his hand and caress JongDae’s cheeks.

“Case 21.”

JongDae’s eyes kept looking at MinSeok as he reached out for his plate again. The cold tips of MinSeok’s fingers sent goosebumps down JongDae’s spin when they touched his fingers. The blue eyes were darker than before, and the air around them was colder. The moment broke down the moment JongIn sat down next to them, showing a big smile to MinSeok.

“And I am Kim JongIn,” the last man blurted out, gaining the attention of all the team and MinSeok. “I am twenty-two like _SeHoon_.” The named man frown at the wrong pronunciation of his name. “My power is teleportation and KyungSoo is my husband.”

Those words made everyone switch their attention from KyungSoo to JongIn, amused expressions in the faces at the unexpected news. KyungSoo looked, once again, guilty, and tilted his head with an awkward shift.

“Husband?” ChanYeol asked. “When did you get married?”

“I don’t think is the right time to have this conversation.” It was all KyungSoo said.

JunMyeon got up and moved to his backpack, taking out a tablet and turning it on. Under the eyes of the others, JunMyeon started typing something and searching through files until he found what he was looking for, showing it to them.

“You said you were with YiFan,” he muttered. “Where?”

It was a video of the day YiFan had escaped. The number 00 that identified Wu was all they could see for a few seconds before everything exploded. MinSeok was nowhere to be seen, not at least by the camera that had survived the explosion and recorded the moment. The man frowned and looked carefully in the images before pointing a finger in the right corner at the bottom of the video. The others looked carefully where MinSeok had indicated: the figure of a man curling up in the corner of the room, only his feet, and his silhouette visible for them.

“How did you escape?” SeHun questioned.

“When a giant building is crumbling down a lot of escapes open in front of you as well as death paths,” he simply stated. “People were too busy trying to stop YiFan to realize that I’ve escaped.”

“And the winter?” JongIn asked. “Why did you do this?”

“I didn’t want to,” he complained. “But when I left that place I wasn’t able to control my powers anymore. I was stronger and I could do things that I couldn’t before. I was scared and lost and I didn’t know where to go. Then it started to snow and it never ended.”

“So your emotions are connected to this winter? Your lack of control provokes this?” BaekHyun asked.

“I think so,” he replied. “The winter will last as long as I can’t control my power.”

“Did your aspect changed because of your power, too?” KyungSoo inquired.

“Yes,” MinSeok answered. “My true eyes are brown, that’s the color of the control. Light blue is my powers completely activated that’s why the winter is still going and deep dark blue is when I lost all control. My hair turned white after the first experiments and then my eyes changed.”

“And your skin? You are pale as a dead,” SeHun said. MinSeok looked at him and frowned.

“I have always been this pale,” he stated.

ChanYeol bit his lip to keep himself from laughing as SeHun shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Silence fell heavily in the room, everyone exchanging cautious looks as they tried to find a way to solve the situation. JunMyeon was the first one to break the silence, looking at MinSeok with curious eyes.

“And how will you be able to have control again?”

MinSeok blinked and his gaze fell to the floor. His body seemed tense.

“I don’t know.”

Everything turned cold and quiet again.

* * *

JongDae watched MinSeok sleeping soundly in one of the bedrooms of the house. He was curled in himself, with a couple of sheets thrown over his body, a pillow under his head and others being hugged by the man. JongDae closed the door and walked down the stairs and went back to the living room.

“He is asleep,” he announced his teammates. “So, what are we going to do now?”

“I don’t know,” JunMyeon confessed. “The only thing we have is MinSeok’s words and the record of the president and JungSoo planning to kill us.”

“We cannot go against the government with just this. The only solution right now is planning our escape route so we can run away after returning that man to the president,” BaekHyun stated. "It’s the only way to deal with this.”

JongIn frowned and sent an annoyed look to BaekHyun.

“That’s unfair. And stupid,” he said. “Do you really think that the government will let you escape? If you do that you’ll have to escape all your life. Running away every fucking minute because they won’t stop looking for you.”

“Well, yeah, I didn’t think of that,” he replied with a pout. “But it’s the only solution right now, or do you have a better idea?”

“Gather more information to incriminate the government of this and sell it to an international TV program?”

“And how are we supposed to gather more information?” SeHun questioned. “We are already running away from them?”

“They don’t know that, right?” JongIn stated. “So just return two or three of you to the base, stole information and then run away again.”

JunMyeon shook his head and sighed. He was trying to think in another way to deal with the situation but his mind couldn’t find any other possibility, except the one BaekHyun, had already said out loud. The idea of being a runaway all his life didn’t sound too good but JongIn’s solution was too risky to do it.

“Who said we have to go back to the base?” ChanYeol suddenly said. “Didn’t they gave us a satellite connection with the central data in case we aren’t able to come back? We can use that to hack into the system and try to find anything for the press.”

JongDae sighed and sat down next to SeHun, he looked at KyungSoo for a moment and saw the same troubled expression on him that he had. It was a good way to do it without risking their lives immediately, but the idea had its flaws.

“Yes, we can do that,” KyungSoo finally said. “But our position will be discovered and we will have to run again.”

“Not if we’re moving,” BaekHyun replied. “We all can connect to the satellite from different cars. Our positions will be moving constantly and everyone will try to hack into the system, but only one of us will gather the information.”

“It’s still too risky, they could catch any of us while we do that,” JongDae said.

“That’s right, but maybe if we are quick enough we could try to have a person already in one of the media buildings ready to make everyone watch what they’ve been doing.”

“And if they catch the person who has the information? What are we going to do? What if no channel wants to air this?” SeHun questioned.

“I have a friend in the late-night news shows,” ChanYeol said. “I can try to go other and sell him this. He knew that I was going to start working for the government and he has always been a sucker for scandals.”

“It’s still too risky,” JongDae repeated. “They will catch us anyway.”

“I could try to hack into all the channels and show them the reality of what’s happening. No need to involve more people in this,” KyungSoo offered.

Everything turned silent again. JunMyeon patted his thigh, trying to think in all the pros and cons of the idea. Sharing the information of the real clone program would be a hard kick to the government and he was sure that people would come out of their houses to protest. But doing that meant risking his teammate’s life and he didn’t want that. Several minutes later, JongIn held KyungSoo’s hand to gather his attention, sending him a look that the man knew too well.

“No.”

“KyungSoo…” he tried again with a soft tone.

“No.” His voice was deep and left no place to reply.

“What?” ChanYeol questioned.

“My power is teleportation,” JongIn explained. “I could try to teleport each one of you to a safe place once you ended with your hacking things.”

“JongIn, no, if you that you’ll exhaust yourself. You could hurt yourself for going from one place to another,” KyungSoo said through gritted teeth. He wasn’t mad, just terribly concerned.

“But it’s a good solution. You won’t even need different cars. Just different places that I’d know good enough to teleport there.”

KyungSoo was going to reply again, but JunMyeon put a hand on his shoulder and looked at him with a tired expression. JongIn’s eyes fell on the leader and their gazes meet for a moment before JunMyeon looked down and sighed.

“We can’t risk your life, JongIn,” he said. “We’ll find another solution.”

“Your time is coming to an end.” The man stated and sent a serious look to his husband before looking at the whole team. “Once they find out you’ll have to start running away. To end this you have to act quickly, no more time to think about solutions. We’re doing this.”

“JongIn…” KyungSoo tried again.

“No. At night we’ll be moving to the places. Prepare everything.”

JongIn turned around and exited the room closing the door behind him with a loud sound. KyungSoo could only sigh heavily as the other started preparing what they would need. The decision had been made.

* * *

An old school, an abandoned clinic, and two old houses were the chosen places. SeHun going to the first one, ChanYeol to the second one and BaekHyun and JunMyeon going to the old houses. JongIn knew all the places already, so that made everything easier for him to think in the place where he needed to teleport when the time comes.

KyungSoo and JongDae stayed in the mansion. The first one hacking into all the international and national channels and the other making sure that KyungSoo was protected and MinSeok under control. They had decided that the couple’s house was still a safe place to return, especially since KyungSoo had made sure that locating the place was a really hard task.

“Everyone’s ready?” BaekHyun asked as he turned on his laptop, JongIn was by his side watching everything carefully.

“We are,” the man received the affirmative replies.

“Okay, let’s hack into the system. At any warning tell me and JongIn would go for you.”

The air was tense as BaekHyun tried to remember all those long lessons of hacking that he had received when he joined the government’s team. Each one of the members had been trained to be a good fighter, a good hacker and basically a good-for-everything person. But KyungSoo had always been the best one in everything related to computers and hacking into things.

“I’m in,” JunMyeon said.

“Me too,” SeHun’s and ChanYeol’s replies came at the same time.

“And I’m in too.”

JongIn was breathing heavily as he stared at BaekHyun’s long fingers moving around the laptop, the satellite thing that they had talked about later was connected to one of the USB’s ports and it had a green light that tingled now and then. It was driving JongIn crazy to not know what was happening in the other places or the house,

“I’m ready,” KyungSoo announced a few minutes later.

“I think I found something,” BaekHyun said and the man held his breath as he clicked in one of the archives.

It was a video dated in November 2016. It wasn’t too difficult to see MinSeok in the video, crying as a woman injected something black into his veins. The man was tied to the bed as he convulsed harshly against the mattress before going still. The pitting of the vital signs monitors made BaekHyun sighed. MinSeok was dead in that video.

 _“Result of the virus E-8R: death. Eight versions of the same virus that goes wrong. Will try another time with a different dose.”_ A voice from the video said. They could only see the white back of a man.

_“What do we do, sir?” the nurse asked._

_“Bring him back and make him sleep. We are trying this dose with Case 00.”_

_“Understood, sir.”_

The video ended and BaekHyun sent a quick look to JongIn before browsing around the archives again. Twenty minutes passed when the first warning came and SeHun’s shaky voice came through their earpieces.

“They have detected me.”

JongIn disappeared in the blink of an eye, appearing next to SeHun who had already packed everything. JongIn grabbed his arm and closed his eyes as he imagined the living room of the house. They disappeared after a few seconds and appeared in front of KyungSoo and JongDae. Not even five minutes later, ChanYeol asked to be picked up as well and two minutes later JunMyeon was asking the same.

JongIn seemed exhausted when he appeared with JunMyeon and sat down for a few minutes trying to recover his breath. His limbs were shaking and he felt a little dizzy but was on his feet again when BaekHyun announced that he had been discovered as well. JongIn disappeared and appeared again with BaekHyun by his side.

“I sent you everything I found,” the man said, the others repeating the same thing.

KyungSoo nodded and started working on the videos that they were going to show to the people and with what texts to make them understand all that had been happening with the government in the last years. The man could not stop himself from sending a worried look to JongIn, warning SeHun with a shout when he saw his husband stumbled and falling to the floor.

“I’ll take care of him,” JongDae said and picked the man up. “Do your thing, he’ll be okay.”

KyungSoo nodded again but still sent a worried look to JongDae as he exited the living room with JongIn on his arms. The man carried JongIn to the master room upstairs, and let him rest under the sheets. He moved then to the room where MinSeok was resting and entered with slow and careful steps.

“You’re up,” he said when he saw the man sitting in the bed.

“Yes…”

MinSeok didn’t look at him for a few minutes, his eyes glued to the crumbled sheets around his body. JongDae stepped closer to the bed and sighed as he stared at the man. He was tense with what was developing downstairs and a little concerned with JongIn’s health, but all that was overshadowed by the uncomfortable feeling he had whenever he was with MinSeok.

“I know you don’t trust me and I’m sure that you don’t even believe me, but I…”

“You don’t have to explain anything to me,” JongDae said. “It’s just. Do you know? My job in this team was to catch you and…”

“And to kill me,” MinSeok completed the phrase for him. “I know. I, somehow I knew it when you gave me your plate.”

“I’ve been trained for years to kill you. Not only catch you but kill you. And when I have you in front of me I just can’t. I should have, but I couldn’t,” JongDae said. “And for the last few hours, I’ve been wondering why I didn’t shot you when I could.”

MinSeok looked at him. His eyes were still light blue when he opened his arms and waited patiently. JongDae was hesitant at first but a minute later the tension between them broke down and he hugged MinSeok tightly.

“I was so scared,” MinSeok said. “When I saw you when I realized that you were part of the government.”

“All this time I’ve been wishing for you to not be the man that caused all of this,” JongDae uttered against MinSeok’s neck. “All this time I was wishing that my missing boyfriend was not the one that had turned the world into a giant iceberg.”

“I am so sorry,” MinSeok sobbed and tighten his grip around JongDae’s body. “I was going to your house when they took me and all I could wish was that you were safe. Then years passed and with time I started forgetting everything: your face, your voice, your favorite food…”

“I entered the government program because I thought that it would be a good way to search for you,” JongDae confessed. “I just wanted to know that you were okay. All I’ve needed these years was to know that you were okay.”

MinSeok cried as he held JongDae as close as possible. Both of them were shaking with the emotion of meeting each other after years wondering what had happened with the other. After years missing the touch of his lover. The sound of his voice. Now they were together again.

“I didn’t want to make a scene in front of the others,” he said. “When they said that Kim MinSeok seemed to be the culprit of this never-ending winter I was half scared and half happy. I was scared to find that the person I love wasn’t good anymore, that I’d have to kill you as my ex-chief wanted me to. Happy because you were alive.”

MinSeok laughed a little bit and nuzzled against JongDae’s neck for a little longer before pulling away and caressing his cheeks. JongDae’s eyes were as red and puffy as his because of the tears, their hearts were beating like crazy as MinSeok leaned closer to JongDae.

“I could never forget you. When everything happened, when they took me with Yixing. When they started with the experiments… All I hoped was that you were not in the same position as me,” he whispered. “I just wanted you to be safe. And when I escaped I wanted to run to you, but I know that could put you in danger and I didn’t.”

“I know, I know…” JongDae closed his eyes and sighed heavily. “MinSeok, your parents died in a car accident four years ago…”

“I know,” he said with hurt and low tone. “They told me. I lost control and almost kill three nurses. I hated them and for a long time I just wanted them to die and…”

“Everything is going to be okay now,” JongDae assured him. “The guys have information to expose the government, KyungSoo is hacking people’s televisions to show them what we found.”

“Really? Do you think that will work?”

“I hope so.” JongDae smiled a little and MinSeok smiled as well.

“I’ve missed you so much, Dae,” he said. “So fucking much.”

“Me too. I’ve missed you like crazy.”

JongDae leaned down and MinSeok did the same, their lips meeting halfway and their hearts racing up when they were finally able to have that moment again after years away. The kiss was slow and with a bit of hesitation by both sides. MinSeok’s lips were soft against JongDae’s and the younger man felt jolts of electricity ran through his body as the connection deepened; it was like before and at the same time it was something completely new. Their bodies recognize the other and shivered with emotion. The soft moan that MinSeok let out made JongDae rose his hands until they were resting on MinSeok’s face, cold skin against his warm fingers.

The moment was broken down when SeHun stepped in the room, his eyes shifting from MinSeok to JongDae a few times before sighing. If he was surprised, no gesture or face gave it away.

“KyungSoo had done it, right now the whole world is watching the truth behind our government’s lies,” he said. “So, you know, when you’re done with this unexplained and strange kiss you can go down and join us in the show.”

JongDae almost chuckled and shook his head when SeHun closed the door behind him. They heard the steps getting lost in the distance before MinSeok looked at JongDae again, there was doubt and worry on his eyes.

“Do you think he…?”

“No, he won’t. I know him, he’s a good guy and doesn’t ask questions,” he said. “Let’s go down. I want to see what’s happening.”

JongDae got up first and waited for MinSeok. They walked out of the room together right in time to see KyungSoo rushing into the master room. MinSeok sent a worried look at JongDae and the man quickly explained what they had done while he was sleeping. Even if MinSeok seemed concerned and a little guilty with the risks they had taken both of them knew that the man was relieved as well.

When they entered the living room, BaekHyun had the TV on and the news channels were giving the breaking news about their video and replaying the scenes that had been played in all the possible televisions around the world. SeHun and JunMyeon were seating on a sofa and ChanYeol in the other, their attention completely focused on the TV.

“We did it, guys,” BaekHyun said. “They listen to us, they believe us.”

“They did,” SeHun confirmed.

JongDae walked to their teammates and took a sit with MinSeok by his side on the other sofa. JunMyeon eyes fell into their hands in a matter of seconds, his eyebrows lifting for a moment before a curious look crossed his face.

“What…?” he started, gaining the attention of the others.

“There are a few things that I have to tell you, guys,” JongDae said. “But I would like to do it when all of you are here, included JongIn.”

“Okay,” ChanYeol said, not completely understanding the situation.

KyungSoo walked into the living room with JongIn almost thirty minutes later. JongIn seemed better than before, his steps more focused and that warm smile back on his face. He and KyungSoo sat down on the same couch, watching with the same curious and surprised eyes the joined hands of the other couple.

“What does that mean?” BaekHyun finally made the question everyone had in their heads.

“I…” JongDae took a deep breath before speaking. “Seven years ago, my boyfriend Kim MinSeok and his best friend disappeared one day. For two years their families and I search for them untiringly but we didn’t find anything that could give us a single hint to what had happened to them. It was like they had evaporated,” he said. “When YiXing’s family moved away, the investigation came to an end and I had to investigate by myself. Then, four years ago, MinSeok’s parents died in a car accident and I entered a program to work with the government. I thought that that way I could search for them.”

“And then the winter happened,” JunMyeon added.

“And then the winter happened and I made everything that was in my hand to be part of the group that the government wanted to create to investigate what had happened,” he said. “Part of me was afraid that it wasn’t MinSeok, but another part was hopeful that after years I was going to be able to finally know what had happened to my boyfriend and my friend.”

JunMyeon nodded and the teammates exchanged troubled looks. They were a little disappointed that JongDae had not to trust them enough to tell them their stories, but at the end, everyone had their secrets (like KyungSoo being married) and it was understandable that he didn’t want to risk his position in the group talking so lightly of his past and the names of his lover and his friend.

“I…” ChanYeol started. “I’m glad that you found the person you were looking for, JongDae. And even though it would have been great to know this beforehand, I understand why you stay quiet about this.”

“Thank you.”

MinSeok’s eyes shifted from the married couple to the TV and gasped when he saw all the people gathering in the streets and the known massive amounts of calls, emails and complains that the Parliament was getting after the news had been published. People had believed them and soon families started speaking up with questions about the whereabouts of their missing relatives.

The first big manifestation took place in Gangnam, people demanding answers that the government was not providing and their complaints filling the covers of magazines and newspapers. The news on the television was all about their videos and the lack of response by the gov.

“What are we going to do now?” MinSeok asked. “They know, now. What are we going to do?”

JunMyeon was the one who answered. “Now we wait.”

* * *

The first great change occurred when the president renounced to his position and Im YoonAh took control over the government, opening the cases about those experimental programs that had been going undercover, financed with public money. It had been almost one week since the video had shown in all the national televisions and the manifestations kept going for days. All of them had discussed what to do for a long time before deciding that they were going to face outside that day. They were going to try to get inside the office where the new president was working and explain to her what they did and why.

Once they were on the road, the inside the ride van turned quiet and tense. MinSeok was shifting uncomfortably in the seat as the van made his way between the busy streets until it reached the entry to the government principal office. A suited man stopped and JunMyeon, who was the one driving, told him something in a low voice. After a few seconds, the man nodded and the gates opened, letting them in.

When they parked in an empty slot, they stayed inside the van for a few more minutes, trying to prepare themselves for whatever was going to happen. ChanYeol was the first one to move, opening the door and getting out of the van. The others started coming out later, one by one until MinSeok was the only one left inside the car.

“MinSeok…?” JongDae asked.

His blue eyes focused on his boyfriend's face and he tried to pull out a smile but he failed. Anxious was killing him and he felt like throwing up at any moment. JongDae extended his hand to MinSeok and the man took it without a second thought. They closed the van and started walking to the entry, taking the lift to the last floor and trying to remain calm.

“Everything is going to be okay,” JongDae assured his boyfriend.

They started walking to the president's office, all eyes on them as they got closer to their destiny. But suddenly KyungSoo stopped and their attention went to the two persons heading out of the president’s office. It was Park JungSoo.

“It’s him,” MinSeok uttered. “He was the one that injected me with the virus and all those things, he is the head of the program.”

JongDae gritted his teeth and took a step closer to the man, clenching his fists and cursing the moment all of them had decided to leave the weapons in the house. MinSeok trembled when JungSoo exited the room completely and raised his head; the man looked at them with a devilish smile that only got accentuated when his eyes fell on MinSeok. Soon the scientist raised his hand and pointed a finger at them.

“Those are the bastards who planned all of this!” he screamed. “Arrest them for being the people behind that awful clone program! Just arrest them, don’t kill them.”

MinSeok started running with the rest of the team and JongIn the moment the people around them tried to take them. They ran down the stairs, their limbs burning when they reached the last floor. There were guards on the entry pointing guns at them, and the lift sounded loud as the metallic doors opened and JungSoo exited it with the president Im by his side.

“I got this,” ChanYeol said. He moved his hands and the guns started melting, making the men drop them to the floor as they shook their hands.

SeHun was next, moving a hand to the left and making a hard blow of wind push the men out of the entry. They ran to the doors and moved into the mass of people outside, in the streets, trying to get away from JungSoo and his men. A shot made JongIn fell to the floor, the tranquilizer knocking him out in a matter of seconds. KyungSoo kneeled next to him, getting shot as well as he tried to protect his husband.

“We cannot let them!” JunMyeon said.

ChanYeol tried to melt the snow under them and the ground as well, but a guard managed to shot him and he fell into the floor. The people around them were running in panic as the guards kept shooting to whoever was in their way to get them. 

“Don’t try to run away, Case 99,” JungSoo said. He had a gun on his hand as well. “For your actions, this has happened, if you’ll have stay this could have been handled.” JungSoo sighed. “YiXing, you’re friend, he could be alive now, you know?”

MinSeok felt rage washing over him and his eyes turned into the darkest blue that he had ever had. He sent concerned looks to the people on the floor, unconscious with the tranquilizers and looked at JongDae for a moment before lifting a hand and pointing at the sky. The winter got worse in a matter of time, snow fell unstoppable and soon it was too difficult to move in the street with the heavy layer of snow that covered the roads. The guards were starting to drown in the ice, and people screamed in panic as a cold wind freeze them in place.

“MinSeok, don’t,” JongDae pleaded but he wasn’t listening anymore.

The man started walking to JungSoo, ready to kill him if it was necessary. The pain of knowing that YiXing was dead was too much, the thought of them getting to JongDae or the other because of him pushing him to the limit. He moved his hand again and the guards froze in the places as he approached JungSoo.

“You’re going to die,” MinSeok said. “I don’t care what happens to me, but you’re going to die.”

JungSoo laughed and raised the gun, shooting at BaekHyun when he saw the man trying to approach them from behind. JongDae was trying to get to them as well, SeHun and JunMyeon walking behind him but the cold wind making the task difficult.

“Stay back!” MinSeok screamed.

“MinSeok, please!”

The man moved his hand again and the winter storm worsened, he was completely focused on killing the man in front of him. The other things didn’t matter to him. He just needed him to die. Because of what he had done, to him and the others.

“You’re stronger thanks to me,” JungSoo said and swallowed hard, he felt like he was minutes away from being freeze. “All we did was to make you better!”

“Better? This is not better!” It was almost impossible to see now, the wind and the snowflakes combined making the air dense and the things a few meters in front of him barely visible. JongDae saw the guards of the president and Im YoonAh herself approaching them, trying to get people inside the buildings and picking up their unconscious members.

“You’re the one that caused everything!” JungSoo shouted. “You should have died!”

“And you’re going to die now,” MinSeok whispered. “You’ll get what you deserve.”

A hard wind made both MinSeok and JungSoo fell to the floor, the man almost losing his gun as well but grabbing it quickly enough to try to shot at SeHun. MinSeok made ice spikes appeared in front of the bullet, making it stop before getting to SeHun. He heard the president calling him as well, trying to make him stop. But he stood up again and walked to JungSoo.

The scientist rose his gun and pointed at MinSeok, shooting again without a second thought and groaning when the man froze the bullet in the middle of the air making it fall to the ground. MinSeok’s eyes were a shining dark blue when he approached the man, the wind turning even more violent and colder than before as the team tried to get closer to the two men. For once, MinSeok saw JungSoo’s eyes filled with horror. For once it was the doctor who was going to scream and not him. The tables had turned.

“MinSeok!” JongDae screamed.

The called man’s attention changed a bit to JongDae but returned quickly to the scientist when he saw the man trying to move away. He made ice spikes appear from the ground, caging JungSoo as he stepped closer to him. When he was about to make the final move to kill the man, but JongDae appeared in front of him and caressed his cheeks with his hands.

“MinSeok, please, don’t do this…” he whispered. “Please, don’t do this…”

Then MinSeok saw it: the horror in people’s faces, the troubled expression of President Im, and the guards pointing JungSoo with their guns; he watched the rest of the team looking at him with the plea in their eyes as well. He saw the frozen people and the thick layer of snow that covered the streets, he saw the tremors in everyone’s bodies…

And finally, he met JongDae’s eyes. He saw the hopeful look on him. Love. That was the person who didn’t give up on him after he disappeared. The one who had been looking for him and had loved him even when he discovered that he was the culprit of all of this.

The cold started decreasing, as MinSeok’s eyes turned brighter and brighter and then dark. The wind stopped and the clouds started fading away until the sky was completely clear. JongDae smiled when the blue turned brown, and MinSeok blinked to him before raising his own hands and cupping JongDae’s face.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered.

“It’s okay,” JongDae said and leaned forward, trapping MinSeok’s between his arms. 

When they parted, MinSeok’s eyes were completely normal again and he seemed more relaxed. JongDae embraced him with his arms and held him tightly. The team reached them in time to catch JungSoo trying to escape, pulling handcuffs on him and throwing his gun away.

“Everything ended,” JongDae said. “Everything is okay now.”

MinSeok just hugged him again, closing his eyes as he nuzzled against JongDae’s neck. None of them realized the moment the snow started melting around them and the sun raised and shined brighter as ever in the sky under the delighted expressions of the other people around them.

Winter had ended.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this was all, if you liked it don't forget to leave comments and kudos! I really enjoyed writing something with this MAMA!AU theme so maybe in the future, I will try to do something like this again (and probably edit this fic). Thank you all for reading!


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